High speed substrate aligner apparatus

ABSTRACT

A substrate aligner providing minimal substrate transporter extend and retract motions to quickly align substrate without back side damage while increasing the throughput of substrate processing. In one embodiment, the aligner having an inverted chuck connected to a frame with a substrate transfer system capable of transferring substrate from chuck to transporter without rotationally repositioning substrate. The inverted chuck eliminates aligner obstruction of substrate fiducials and along with the transfer system, allows transporter to remain within the frame during alignment. In another embodiment, the aligner has a rotatable sensor head connected to a frame and a substrate support with transparent rest pads for supporting the substrate during alignment so transporter can remain within the frame during alignment. Substrate alignment is performed independent of fiducial placement on support pads. In other embodiments the substrate support employs a buffer system for buffering substrate inside the apparatus allowing for fast swapping of substrates.

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/042,248, filed on Sep. 30, 2013 (now U.S. Pat. No. 9,601,362), whichis a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/179,745 filedon Jul. 11, 2005 (now U.S. Pat. No. 8,545,165) which is acontinuation-in-part, of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/093,479,filed Mar. 30, 2005 (now U.S. Pat. No. 7,891,936), the disclosures ofwhich are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

The exemplary embodiments disclosed herein relate to a substrate alignerapparatus.

2. Brief Description of Related Developments

Integrated circuits (IC) are produced from substrates (wafers) ofsemiconductor material. During IC fabrication wafers are typicallyhoused in cassettes and moved to processing stations where the wafersare removed from the cassette via a substrate transporter and placed ina wafer aligner to effect a predetermined orientation that is desiredfor further processing of the wafer.

In conventional aligners, the substrate transporter may place the waferon the wafer aligner and then move away from the aligner during thewafer alignment process. This results in increased wafer alignment timesarising from the substrate transporter extension and retraction beforeand after the wafer alignment process. Also, if the alignment feature orfiducial of the wafer is placed over an aligner feature, such as thealignment chuck rest pads, masking the wafer fiducial from the fiducialsensor of the aligner, this will result in wafer placement and fiducialsensing re-tries, thereby further adding to the alignment time. Both therepeated movements of the substrate transporter during the alignmentprocess and the obstruction of the wafer alignment feature createinefficiencies in the alignment process thereby decreasing thethroughput of wafer processing and production.

Due to potential substrate transporter re-tries in placing the wafer onthe aligner and the large numbers of wafers processed through thealigner, the time that is needed to align a batch of wafers forprocessing can increase substantially. Table 1 below illustrates aconventional alignment process with a conventional substrate aligner.

TABLE 1 Estimated Pass Number Description Time (sec) 1 Transporterextends to aligner 1.0 2 Places the wafer on the aligner 0.8 chuck 3Transporter partially retracts 0.5 4 Aligner scans 360 degrees for 1.5fiducial 5 If fiducial is not found (i.e. — covered by the chuck pads) aretry is needed 6 Chuck goes to safe zone to clear 0.4 the path for thetransporter end effector 7 Transporter extends 0.5 8 Transporter liftsthe wafer (no 0.3 end effector edge grip actuation) 9 Aligner rotateschuck slightly 0.2 towards the safe zone to uncover the notch 10Transporter drops the wafer on 0.3 chuck 11 Transporter retractspartially 0.5 12 Aligner scans 360 deg. for 1.5 fiducial and finds thatat the post position the transporter pick path is obstructed 13Transporter extends 0.5 14 Transporter lifts the wafer 0.3 15 Alignermoves the chuck to within 0.4 the safe zone 16 Transporter drops thewafer on 0.3 chuck 17 Aligner moves the chuck as close 0.2 as possibleto the desired post- position and the chuck within the safe zone 18Repeat items 14-17 until the — fiducial is at the desired post- positionand the chuck within the safe zone 19 Transporter lifts and grips the0.8 wafer 20 Transporter retracts to home 1.0 Total Time >11

In addition to the increased alignment times, wafer walking may beinduced into the alignment process as a result of the repeated liftingand placing of the wafer to and from the alignment chuck. Further, eachadditional pick of the wafer increases the possibility of backsidedamage or contamination.

With conventional aligner designs it is not possible to reliably detectthe fiducial when it is placed on top of the chuck pad due to the use ofa through beam sensor. It is also not possible to arbitrarily orient thewafer without obstructing the pick path of the substrate transporter noris it guaranteed that the wafer be aligned in less than two substratetransporter re-tries. The number of re-tries needed to properly alignthe wafer with conventional aligners also jeopardizes the accuracy ofthe fiducial post position. In addition, the alignment of the wafercannot be performed with the substrate transporter extended under thealigner, thus requiring additional extend/retract motions by thesubstrate transporter for each alignment operation performed.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,468,022 B1 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,357,996 B2 discloseexamples of conventional substrate aligners that utilize edge rollingfor wafer fiducial detection and expensive edge sensing devices. Anotherexample of a conventional aligner apparatus is disclosed in U.S. Pat.No. 6,729,462, wherein the aligner has first and second buffer arms anda chuck arm. The chuck arm is used to align a workpiece. The chuck armtransfers the aligned workpiece to the buffer arms, and a secondworkpiece is aligned with the chuck arm.

The exemplary embodiments of the present invention overcome the problemsof conventional wafer aligners as will be described further below.

SUMMARY OF THE EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

In accordance with one exemplary embodiment of the present invention asubstrate aligner apparatus is provided comprising a frame, an invertedchuck, a sensing device and a substrate transfer mechanism. The frame isadapted to allow a substrate transporter to transport a substrate to andfrom the aligner apparatus. The inverted chuck is capable of holding thesubstrate and is movably connected to the frame by a chuck driveshaftengaged to the inverted chuck for moving the inverted chuck relative tothe frame and effecting alignment of the substrate. The sensing device,for detecting a position determining feature of the substrate, islocated between the chuck and the chuck driveshaft. The substratetransfer mechanism is movably connected to the frame and is locatedinside the frame below the inverted chuck for moving the substrate fromthe inverted chuck to the substrate transporter.

In accordance with another exemplary embodiment of the present inventiona substrate aligner apparatus is provided comprising a frame and an edgegripping chuck system. The frame is adapted to allow an edge grippingsubstrate transporter to transport a substrate to and from the alignerapparatus. The edge gripping chuck system is connected to the frame forholding and rotationally positioning the substrate to a predeterminedpost alignment substrate orientation. The chuck system is configured toeffect the predetermined post alignment substrate orientationindependent of the substrate transporter so that regardless of thepredetermined post alignment substrate orientation relative to thetransporter, post alignment transfer of the substrate to the transportercan be effected without rotational repositioning of the substrate.

In accordance with another exemplary embodiment of the present inventiona substrate aligner apparatus is provided comprising a frame, arotatable sensor head and a substrate support. The frame is adapted toallow a substrate transporter to transport a substrate to and from thealigner apparatus. The rotatable sensor head has at least one sensingdevice for detecting a position determining feature of the substrate andis movably connected to the frame by a driveshaft engaged to therotatable sensor head for moving the rotatable sensor head relative tothe frame. The substrate support is mounted to the frame for supportingthe substrate when the position determining feature is detected by therotatable sensor head. The substrate support has support pads contactinga peripheral edge of the substrate and the sensing device is capable ofdetecting the position determining feature independent of the locationof the position determining feature relative to the support pads.

In accordance with still another exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention a substrate aligner apparatus is provided comprising a frame,a drive section connected to the frame, a first substrate interface anda second substrate interface. The frame is adapted to allow a substratetransporter to transport a substrate to and from the aligner apparatus.The first substrate interface section is movably connected to the framefor directly interfacing with the substrate and operably connected tothe drive section for effecting movement of the first substrateinterface section relative to the frame. The second substrate interfacesection is movably connected to the frame for directly interfacing withthe substrate and operably connected to the drive section for effectingmovement of the second substrate interface section relative to theframe. The first substrate interface section is moved for effectingdetection of a position determining feature of the substrate, and thesecond substrate interface is moved for effecting repositioning of thesubstrate.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing aspects and other features of the present invention areexplained in the following description, taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic top plan view of a substrate processing apparatusincorporating features in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 2A is a schematic side view of a substrate aligning apparatus ofthe processing apparatus in FIG. 1 showing the aligner apparatus in afirst configuration;

FIG. 2B is another schematic side view of the substrate aligningapparatus of the processing apparatus in FIG. 1 showing the apparatus ina second configuration;

FIG. 2C is still another schematic side view of the substrate aligningapparatus of the processing apparatus in FIG. 1 showing the apparatus ina third configuration;

FIG. 3 is a schematic bottom view of an inverted chuck and substratetransfer mechanism of the substrate aligner apparatus in FIGS. 2A-2C;

FIG. 4 is a schematic top view of a substrate aligner apparatus inaccordance with another exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a side view of the substrate aligner apparatus in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a substrate aligner apparatus inaccordance with yet another exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing a method for aligning a substrate inaccordance with the aligner apparatus in FIGS. 2A-2C and FIG. 3;

FIG. 8 is a flow chart showing a method for aligning a substrate inaccordance with the aligner apparatus in FIGS. 4 and 5;

FIG. 9 is a flow chart showing a method for aligning a substrate inaccordance with the aligner apparatus in FIG. 6;

FIGS. 10A-10C are schematic elevation views respectively showing analigning apparatus, in accordance with still yet another embodiment, inthree different positions;

FIG. 11 is a schematic perspective view of a substrate aligner apparatusin accordance with yet another exemplary embodiment and a substrate 212,and FIG. 11A is another perspective view of the substrate alignerapparatus with a casing of the apparatus removed;

FIG. 12 is a partial perspective view of the aligner apparatus in FIG.11, showing a movable support of the apparatus in a different position;

FIGS. 13, and 13A-13B are respectively a cutaway perspective view of asupport section of the aligner apparatus, a cross-sectional view of alinear drive portion of the aligner apparatus and a rotational driveportion of the apparatus;

FIG. 14 is a schematic perspective view of a substrate aligner apparatusin accordance with still yet another exemplary embodiment and substrate212;

FIG. 15 is a schematic partial cross-sectional view of substrate holdersof the aligner apparatus in FIG. 14;

FIG. 16 is a schematic perspective view of a substrate aligner apparatusand a substrate transporter of the substrate processing tool inaccordance with another exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 17 is a schematic perspective view of a substrate aligner apparatusin accordance with another exemplary embodiment, and a substrate 212;

FIG. 18 is a schematic cross sectional view of substrate supports of thesubstrate aligner apparatus in FIG. 17;

FIGS. 19A-19D are schematic cross sectional views of the substratesupports in FIG. 18 showing the substrate supports and substrateslocated in different respective positions; and

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

Although the present invention will be described with reference to theexemplary embodiments shown in the drawings and described below, itshould be understood that the present invention can be embodied in manyalternate forms of embodiments. In addition, any suitable size, shape ortype of elements or materials could be used.

Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown a schematic top plan view of asemiconductor substrate processing apparatus 100 incorporating featuresof the present invention. The processing apparatus shown in FIG. 1 is arepresentative processing apparatus with multiple substrate processingchambers 102. At least one of the processing chambers 102 has asubstrate aligner apparatus 105. In addition to the multiple substrateprocessing chambers 102, which may be connected to a transfer chamber104, the substrate processing apparatus 100 may include substratecassette holders 101 that are also connected to the chamber 104. Asubstrate transporter 103 is also located, at least partially, in thechamber 104 and is adapted to transport substrates, such assemiconductor wafers, between and/or among the substrate processingchambers 102 and the cassette holders 101. The substrate transporter 103has an end effector (substrate holder) 106 for holding the substrate.The substrate transporter 103 shown in FIG. 1 is exemplary and may haveany other suitable arrangement. Examples of substrate transporters thatmay be used in the processing apparatus 100 may be found in U.S. Pat.No. 6,485,250 B2, U.S. Pat. No. 6,231,297, U.S. Pat. No. 5,765,983 andU.S. Pat. No. 5,577,879 all of which are incorporated herein byreference in their entirety. The substrate transporter may be of thescara type or it may have multiple linkages effecting the linearmovement of the end effector. The substrate transporter 103 may have oneor more end effectors 106, each capable of holding one or more wafers.The end effector 106 may also be an edge gripping or vacuum gripping endeffector. In alternate embodiments, the substrate processing apparatus100 may have any other desired configuration with any desired number ofchambers.

Any suitable type of substrate may be processed in the semiconductorprocessing apparatus 100 and by the aligner 105 such as semiconductorwafers having a diameter of 200 mm or 300 mm. The semiconductor wafersgenerally have an alignment or reference mark (fiducial) 220 (See FIG.3) for aligning the wafer according to a predetermined orientation.

In the case of integrated circuit production, the integrated circuitsare produced from wafers of semiconductor material. The wafers may behoused in cassettes having one or more closely spaced slots, each slotcapable of holding a wafer. The cassette may be placed on a firstsubstrate cassette holder 101 for loading or unloading the apparatus100. The substrate transporter 103 then grips a wafer with the endeffector 106 and transports it to a substrate processing chamber 102incorporating the substrate aligner apparatus 105.

The aligner apparatus 105 in one embodiment, as described below,generally has a frame, a chuck, a sensing device and a substratetransfer mechanism. The end effector 106 places the wafer on the alignerchuck where the wafer is rotated so that the sensing device can detectthe position of the fiducial. The wafer is aligned to a predeterminedposition for subsequent processing. Post alignment, the wafer may beremoved from the aligner by the substrate transporter end effector 106and transported to other substrate processing chambers 102 for furtherprocessing. The substrate aligner 105 effects the detection andalignment of the fiducial independent of fiducial orientation andindependent of the end effector 106 location within the aligner 105.Once the wafer is processed, the substrate may be placed in a cassetteon the other substrate cassette holder 101.

Referring now to FIGS. 2A-2C, in a first exemplary embodiment thesubstrate aligner apparatus 105 generally comprises a frame 205, aninverted chuck 206, an inverted chuck drive section 216 and drive system207, a sensing device 209, a substrate transfer mechanism 210, and atransfer mechanism drive section 211 and drive system 222. In theexemplary embodiment shown in FIGS. 2A-2C, the frame 205 may have anopening, aperture or slot 213. Substrate transporter 103 (See FIG. 1)transports a substrate 212 (held on the transport end effector 106) intoand out of the frame 205. Opening 213 thus allows the end effector 106access to the substrate aligner apparatus 105.

In this exemplary embodiment, the inverted chuck 206 may be locatedproximate to the top 205A of frame 205. As shown in FIGS. 2A and 3,which respectively show a side view and bottom view of the substrate 212and chuck 206, the chuck may have a span member 206A and downwardextensions 206B depending therefrom. As shown best in FIGS. 2A-2C, thespan member 206A and downward extensions 206B are looped above thesubstrate 212 and transporter end effector 106 when located within theframe 205. The span member 206A mates the chuck 206 to the drive section216 of drive system 207 as will be described below. The span member 206Afaces the top side of the substrate 212 while the downward extensionmembers 206B extend downward from the span member 206A. Each downwardextension member 206B has rest pads 206C for supporting substrate 212when held by the chuck 206. Each extension member 206B extends downsufficiently from the span member 206A so that the rest pads 206Cthereon are positioned to contact the peripheral edge of substrate 212along the bottom side of the substrate 212 when the chuck 206 holdssubstrate 212. Thus, the downward extension members 206B reach aroundopposite sides of the substrate 212 from the span member 206A, fromabove the substrate, to engage the bottom region of the peripheral edgeof the substrate 212. Hence chuck 206 is referred to herein as aninverted chuck. The rest pads 206C may be passive rest pads oralternatively, rest pads 206C may actively grip the substrate 212. Inalternate embodiments the chuck may have any other suitableconfiguration.

The inverted chuck drive system 207, in this embodiment, is a rotarydrive system located at the top 205A of the frame 205 and is mated withthe inverted chuck 206 through drive section 216. Examples of motorsthat may be used in drive system 207 include stepper motors and servomotors. The motors may be brushless and may have an encoder tocoordinate the alignment of substrate 212 with a signal transmitted byan optical sensor 209 corresponding to the detection of the waferfiducial 220. The chuck drive system 207 is independent from thesubstrate transfer mechanism drive system 222. In alternate embodimentsthe chuck drive system 207 may be any other suitable configuration.

As seen in FIG. 2A, the substrate aligner apparatus 105 has acontamination shield 208. The contamination shield 208 is located nearthe top 205A of frame 205, between the drive section 216 of drive system207, as well as the rotatable span portion 206A over the substrate, andthe substrate 212 when the substrate is held by chuck 206. The shield208 may be generally flat in shape and of a diameter such that it fitswithin the chuck 206, yet shields the entire substrate, when the chuck206 is holding a 200 mm or 300 mm substrate 212. The shield may be fixedrelative to the frame 205. As seen in FIG. 2A-2C, in this embodiment theshield 208 is attached to the frame so as not to interfere with rotationof the inverted chuck 206. In this embodiment, the shield 208 may besupported from a post 221 extending concentrically through the driveshaft 216 driving chuck 206. The shield may be made of any suitablematerial such as metal or plastic and may have any desired planformshape, such as substantially circular. In alternate embodiments theshield 208 may be of any other suitable configuration.

As shown in FIGS. 2A-2C, the aligner 105 has a sensing device 209 fordetecting the substrate fiducial 220. In this embodiment the sensingdevice 209 is a reflective optical sensor. In alternate embodiments thesensor 209 may be any other suitable sensing device including capacitiveand inductive sensors. In this embodiment, sensing device 209 may bemounted on contamination shield 208. In alternate embodiments the sensor209 may be mounted in any other suitable manner so that the substrate212, when held by the chuck 206, is in the sensing field of the sensor209 and rotation of the inverted chuck 206 is unrestrained by the sensor209 and its mount. Sensor 209 is positioned radially from the center ofthe chuck's 206 axis of rotation so that the peripheral edge ofsubstrate 212 and its fiducial 220 are disposed in registry with thesensor 209 and so that the rotating chuck structure does not obstructthe sensing of the fiducial 220. Sensing device 209 may also be fixedfrom movement relative to the frame 205. In alternate embodiments thesensing device may have any other desired configuration.

Still referring to FIGS. 2A-2C and FIG. 3, the substrate transfermechanism 210 of this embodiment is located under the chuck 206 in orderto pick substrate 212 from the chuck and place the substrate 212 on theend effector 106. In this embodiment the transfer mechanism 210 may havemultiple independently actuated lifters. Two lifters 210A, 210B areshown in FIG. 3 (In FIGS. 2A-2C, only one of the lifters 210A, 210B isshown for illustrative purposes). In alternate embodiments, the transfermechanism 210 may have any number of lifters. In this embodiment, eachof the two lifters are similar in configuration and have span members210AS, 210BS and upward extensions 210AC, 210BC depending from oppositeends of the lifter span members 210AS, 210BS. The span members 210AS,210BS mate the lifters 210A, 210B with the substrate transfer mechanismdrive section 211 of the drive system 222 as described below. The spanmembers 210AS, 210BS face the bottom of the substrate 212 when substrate212 is held by chuck 206 while each of the upward extensions 210C extendup towards the bottom of substrate 212 when substrate 212 is held bychuck 206. Each of the upward extensions 210C has rest pads 219 forsupporting substrate 212. Each rest pad 219 contacts the bottomperipheral edge of substrate 212. In alternate embodiments the substratetransfer mechanism 210 may have any other suitable configuration.

The substrate transfer mechanism drive system 222 is located at thebottom 205B of the frame 205. The drive system 222 is mated to thetransfer mechanism 210 through drive section 211. In this exemplaryembodiment, drive system 222 is a linear drive system capable ofindependently moving each lifter 210A, 210B back and forth along driveAxis Z (See FIGS. 2A-2C). Drive system 222 may for example be aball-screw drive, a rod linear actuator or a slide linear actuator. Inalternate embodiments drive system 222 may be of any other suitableconfiguration or drive type. The linear travel of the drive system 222is sufficient for either lifter 210A, 210B to lift substrate 212 offchuck 206 when substrate 212 is held by chuck 206 and lower it onto endeffector 106.

Referring again to FIGS. 2A-2C and 3 and also referring to the flowchart in FIG. 7, the operation of substrate aligner apparatus 105 willbe described. As indicated in Block 501 of FIG. 7, the substratetransporter end effector 106 enters the aligner above the chuck restpads 206C through the opening in the frame 213 and places the substratewithin the chuck 206 (See FIG. 2A). The end effector moves down belowthe chuck 206 thereby placing the substrate 212 onto the inverted chuckrest pads 206C, (See Block 502 of FIG. 7 and FIG. 2B). The end effector106 if desired may remain extended between the inverted chuck 206 andtransfer mechanism lifters 210A, 210B. The substrate transporter endeffector 106 is able to remain within the frame 205 during alignment dueto the configuration of the chuck 206 and transfer mechanism 210 asshown in FIGS. 2A-2C. The inverted chuck 206 grips the substrate 212positioned thereon for alignment. The inverted chuck 206 is rotated, viathe inverted chuck drive section 216 and drive system 207 (See Block 503of FIG. 7). During rotation, the sensing device 209 senses theperipheral edge of the substrate 212 and detects the substrate alignmentfeature (fiducial) 220 on the edge of the substrate 212 as may berealized. During alignment the contamination shield 208 prevents anyparticles generated by the chuck 206 and chuck drive system 207, 216from contaminating the surface of the substrate 212.

Sensing device 209 is able to detect the substrate fiducial 220independent of its orientation relative to the gripping pads of chuck206. For example, the chuck rest pads 206C grip the edge of thesubstrate 212, without masking the edge of its fiducial 220 and hencethe fiducial 220 and wafer edge are always substantially exposed tosensing device 209. In addition, as noted before, sensing device 209 iscapable of detecting the fiducial 220 from but one side (e.g. the top)of the substrate 212 so that obstructions or cover on the opposite sideof the wafer does not degrade sensor performance. Detection of thesubstrate edge and fiducial 220 independent of position on the chuck 206eliminates substrate placement re-tries on the chuck 206.

Once the sensing device 209 detects the substrate fiducial 220, asuitable indication signal is transmitted to a controller (not shown) toregister the position of the substrate fiducial 220 relative to adesired reference frame. The sensing device 209 may also send suitablesignals to the controller enabling the controller to determine substrateeccentricity with respect to a desired substrate center referencelocation. The controller may calculate chuck movement to achieve desiredalignment orientation of the substrate 212 and send movement commands todrive 207. The inverted chuck 206 positions the substrate 212 to adesired alignment orientation (See Block 503 of FIG. 7). The appropriatelifting pad 210A, 210B is then selected to lift the post alignedsubstrate 212 off of the inverted chuck 206 (See Block 504 of FIG. 7).The lifting pads 210A, 210B are independently actuated and because oftheir configuration (See FIG. 3), at least one of the lifting pads 210A,210B is capable of clearing obstructions from end effector structure andchuck structure regardless of chuck 206 orientation post substratepositioning to pick the post positioned substrate 212 from the chuck206. Thus, transfer mechanism 210 can access the inverted chuckindependent of the position of the substrate transporter end effector106 within the aligner frame 205 and without rotationally repositioningthe substrate 212 on the chuck 206. The lifting pads 210A, 210B lift thesubstrate 212 from the inverted chuck 206 and the inverted chuck 206 mayreturn to its home position (See Blocks 504-505 of FIG. 7). Thesubstrate transporter end effector 106 picks the substrate off thelifting pad 210A, 210B, grips the wafer (substrate) 212 and delivers thesubstrate 212 to be processed further (See Blocks 506-507 of FIG. 7). Itis noted that the controller may position the end effector 106 so thatpicking the substrate from the lifting pads 210A, 210B also effectscorrection of eccentricity misalignment. Table 2 below summarizes theexemplary process described above (as graphically depicted in FIG. 7)and illustrates at a glance the improved efficiencies provided overconventional aligners. Table 2 also identifies exemplary timescorresponding to each of the operations performed to align a substrateusing this exemplary embodiment.

TABLE 2 Estimated Pass Number Description Time (sec) 1 Transporterextends to aligner 1.0 2 Transporter places the wafer on 0.8 chuck andremains extended 3 Aligner scans and post positions 1.5 wafer 4 Theappropriate set of pads is 0.5 selected and the wafer is lifted 5 Chuckmoves to home (90 degrees 0.2 in the worst case) 6 Transporter lifts andgrips the 0.8 wafer 7 Transporter retracts to home 1.0 Total time 5.8

As can be seen by comparison to Table 1, the aligner 105 in theexemplary embodiment shown in FIGS. 2A-3 and FIG. 7 is capable ofsignificantly reducing the alignment time to align a substrate over theat least eleven second alignment time of the prior art as described inthe background section above.

Referring now to FIGS. 4 and 5, in a second exemplary embodiment thesubstrate aligner apparatus 105′ generally comprises a frame (notshown), a rotatable sensor head 318 with at least one sensing device317, and a substrate support 319. The frame (not shown) is similar tothe frame 205 (See FIGS. 2A-2C) in the first embodiment of the substratealigner apparatus 105 described before unless otherwise noted. Therotatable sensor head 318 has a base member 318A located, for example,towards the bottom of the frame and below the end effector 106 when theend effector 106 is inside the frame. The end effector 106 may accessthe frame through an opening similar to opening 213 in FIGS. 2A-2C. Thebase member 318A is connected to a drive section 321 of the sensor headdrive system (not shown) as will be described below. The base member318A extends radially from the rotatable sensor head's 318 axis ofrotation, Axis Z, as shown in FIG. 5. Base member 318A has a baseextension member 318B depending therefrom on but one side of the basemember 318A in this embodiment. The base extension member 318B extendsupward toward the top of the frame from base member 318A above thesubstrate 212 when held by the substrate support 319. Base extensionmember 318B has a span member 318C depending therefrom. Span member 318Cmay be arcuate in shape and extends above substrate 212 to the oppositeside from the base extension member 318B. As seen best in FIG. 4, thearcuate shape of span member 318C leaves a distance between theperimeter of the substrate 212 and span member 318C so that the spanmember 318C does not overhang the substrate 212. In alternateembodiments the span member 318C may have any other desired shape. Asseen in FIG. 5, the span member 318C has a downward extension member318D depending therefrom on the side opposite the base extension member318B. Thus, as best shown in FIG. 5 the base extension member 318B, thespan member 318C and the downward extension member 318D wrap around thesubstrate support system 319 and the substrate 212 from the base member318A. In this exemplary embodiment the rotatable sensor head 318 alsohas substrate supports 316A, 316B located on opposite sides of thesensor head 318. Substrate supports 316A depend from the downwardextension member 318D while substrate supports 316B depend from the baseextension member 318B as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. Substrate supports316A, 316B wrap around the underside of substrate 212 from the downwardextension member 318D and the base extension member 318B so that thesubstrate supports 316A, 316B contact the bottom peripheral edge ofsubstrate 212 when substrate 212 is held by the sensor head 318 as willbe described below. The substrate supports 316A, 316B may be passive oractive gripping. In alternate embodiments the rotatable sensor head 318may have any other desired configuration.

In this exemplary embodiment, sensor head 318 may have two sensingdevices 317A, 317B located on opposite sides of sensor head 318 as shownin FIGS. 4 and 5. In alternate embodiments the sensor head 318 may havemore or less than two sensors. Sensing devices 317A, 317B may bereflective optical sensors or through beam optical sensors. In alternateembodiments the sensing devices 317A, 317B may be capacitive orinductive sensing devices. Sensors 317A, 317B are radially positionedfrom the center of rotation, Axis Z, a sufficient distance so that thesensors 317A, 317B are capable of sensing the peripheral edge ofsubstrate 212.

The sensor head drive system (not shown) is mated to the sensor headthrough drive section 321 and is similar to the rotary drive describedbefore with respect to aligner 105. However, in this embodiment thedrive system is located at the bottom of the frame and rotates thesensor head around Axis Z as shown in FIG. 5. In alternate embodimentsthe drive system may be of any other desired configuration.

As seen in FIG. 5, the substrate support system 319 in this exemplaryembodiment is nested between the sensor head span member 318C and thesensor head base member 318A. The substrate support system has a spanmember 319A whose center is located substantially coincident with Axis Zand mated to a substrate support drive member 322, also located alongAxis Z. Substrate support drive member 322 is part of the substratesupport drive system (not shown) as described below. In this embodiment,the span member 319A has two upward extension members 319B depending onopposite sides therefrom. In alternate embodiments there may be anynumber of upward extension members depending from the span member 319A.The span member 319A faces the bottom of the substrate 212 when held bythe support 319. The upward extension members 319B have rest pads 320A,320B that overlap at least in part the sensor head devices 317A, 317B ofsensor head 318 (See FIG. 5). The substrate support rest pads 320A, 320Bare configured to support the bottom peripheral edge of substrate 212.Rest pads 320A, 320B may actively or passively grip substrate 212. Restpads 320A, 320B or at least a portion thereof in way of sensor devices317A, 317B may also be made of a transparent material so that a beam A,Bof radiation from sensors 317A, 317B, capable of detecting the edge ofthe substrate 212 when seated on rest pads 320A, 320B, passes throughthe portion of the rest pads 320A, 320B in way of beam A,B to the sensorreceiver (not shown) so as to be able to detect the edge of thesubstrate 212 and the fiducial 220 on the edge. The material for therest pads 320A, 320B may for example be quartz, optically transparent tolight beams, or any other suitable material. In alternate embodiments,when a sensor such as a reflective sensor is used, the rest pads 320A,320B may be of a non-transparent material. In alternate embodiments, thesubstrate support system 319 may have any other desired configuration.

The substrate support drive system (not shown) is similar to the lineardrive system 211, 222 described before and shown in FIGS. 2A-2C, unlessotherwise noted. The substrate support drive system mates with thesubstrate support system 319 through the substrate support drive member322. The substrate support drive system in this embodiment transfers thesubstrate 212 back and forth along Axis Z. The drive system is capableof moving the support system 319 from a position where the rest pads320A, 320B are located above sensor head rest pads 316A, 316B (See FIG.5) to a position where the rest pads 320A, 320B are below sensor headrest pads 316A, 316B. In this embodiment the substrate support system isnot capable of rotation but in alternate embodiments the substratesupport drive system may be combined with a rotational drive so that thesubstrate support system not only travels along Axis Z but rotates aboutAxis Z as well.

Still referring to FIGS. 4 and 5 and also referring to the flow chart inFIG. 8, the operation of the substrate aligner apparatus 105′ will bedescribed. The substrate transporter end effector 106 enters the alignerbetween the sensor head span member 318C and sensor head substratesupports 316A, 316B through the opening in the frame (similar to opening213 in FIG. 2A) (See Block 601 in FIG. 8) and places the substrate onthe support pads 320A, 320B of support system 319 about Axis Z. Thesubstrate support system 319 may move up along Axis Z to the positionshown in FIG. 5 to enable the end effector 106 to place substrate 212onto the substrate support rest pads 320A, 320B (See Block 602 in FIG.8). The end effector 106 may move down along Axis Z, to a position belowsupport pads 320A, 320B and above the support system span member 319A sothat its location is within substrate support 319 as best shown in FIG.5. The end effector 106 may remain extended under the substrate 212. Asnoted in Block 603 of FIG. 8, in order to scan the substrate 212, therotatable sensor head 318 is rotated more than one-hundred and eightydegrees, either clockwise or counter clockwise (as indicated by arrows Rin FIG. 4, so that the entire peripheral edge of substrate 212 isscanned by sensing devices 317A, 317B. This will allow one of the twosensing devices 317A, 317B to detect the substrate fiducial 220 (FIG.3). The fiducial 220 can be detected by the sensing devices 317A, 317Bindependent of the fiducial 220 location relative to the support pads320A, 320B of substrate support 319. For example, when sensing devices317A, 317B are through beam sensors, the fiducial 220 is not masked fromthe sensor beam because substrate supports 320A, 320B, at least in wayof the beam, are transparent to the sensor beam thereby allowing thebeam to pass through the support pads 320A, 320B and impinge on thesubstrate edge to enable sensors 317A, 317B to sense the fiducial.

Upon detecting the substrate alignment feature 220, a suitableindication signal is transmitted from the sensor to a controller (notshown) to register the detection of the substrate alignment feature 220.The substrate 212 is lowered by substrate support 319 onto the sensorhead substrate rest pads 316A, 316B thereby transferring the substrate212 from the substrate support 319 to the rotatable sensor head 318 (SeeBlock 604 in FIG. 8). The end effector 106 may remain below the sensorhead rest pads 316A, 316B. The rotatable sensor head 318 rotatessubstrate 212 to a desired alignment orientation in accordance withinstruction from the controller (See Block 605 in FIG. 8). As may berealized, the rotation of the sensor head 318 is significantly fasterduring the scanning operation in Block 603 of FIG. 8 than it is in thesubstrate orientation operation in Block 605 of FIG. 8. The increasedrotational speed of the sensor head 318 is accomplished, for example,where the sensor head drive system is a multiple speed rotary drive suchas multiple speed stepper motor. In alternate embodiments, any suitabledrive system may be used. The substrate transporter end effector 106lifts the substrate 212 off the sensor head rest pads 316A, 316B, gripsthe substrate 212 and delivers the substrate 212 to be processed further(See Block 606 in FIG. 8). If there is interference between the sensorhead support pads 316A, 316B and the end effector 106 when substrate 212is held by sensor head 318 at its post alignment position so that theend effector 106 pick path is obstructed, the substrate support system319 can lift substrate 212 from the sensor head support pads 316A, 316B.Support system 319 has rest pads 320A, 320B that are positioned to clearthe sensor head support pads 316A, 316B in the event that the sensorhead support pads 316A, 316B block the pick path of the end effector.Further, as seen in FIG. 5, the support system rest pads 320A, 320B arepositioned as to not interfere or obstruct end effector 106 motion alongAxis Z. Accordingly, transfer of the substrate 212, post positioning, tothe end effector may be accomplished independent of substrateorientation and without rotational repositioning of the substrate. Thesensor head moves to its home position.

Referring now to FIG. 6, there is shown a perspective view of asubstrate aligner apparatus 105″ in accordance with another exemplaryembodiment. In this embodiment, the substrate aligner apparatusgenerally comprises a frame (not shown), a rotatable sensor head 423with sensing device 424 and a rotatable chuck 425 having a buffer system440 for buffering substrates. The frame in this exemplary embodiment issimilar to frame 205 described before and shown in FIGS. 2A-2C unlessotherwise noted.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 6, the rotatable sensor head 423 may berotatable about Axis Z. The sensor head 423 has a base section 423Amated with a sensor head drive section (of which only a portion of shaft430 is shown in FIG. 6). The sensor head drive shaft 430 is connected toa sensor head drive system (not shown) as described below. In thisembodiment, base member 423A has arms 423B, 423C extending radially fromits center of rotation disposed at Axis Z. Base member 423A has anupward extension member 423D depending from one arm 423C of base member423A. In alternate embodiments both arms may have upward extensionmembers depending therefrom. The upward extension member 423D hascantilever members 423E depending from the upward extension member 423Dfor supporting the sensing device 424. In this embodiment, the sensingdevice 424 may be a through beam optical sensor having, for example, abeam transmitter and a beam detector on the cantilevered member 423E. Inalternate embodiments, the sensing device may also be a reflectivesensor, a capacitive sensor or an inductive sensor. The sensing device424 is positioned radially from Axis Z at a distance that enables thesensing device 424 to scan the peripheral edge of substrate 212 anddetect the fiducial when substrate 212 is held by the substratebuffering system 425. In this embodiment there is only one sensingdevice 424 but in alternate embodiments there could be any number ofsensing devices. As noted before, the sensor head drive system (notshown) mates to the rotatable sensor head base member 423A through driveshaft 430. The sensor head drive system may be similar to the rotationaldrive systems in aligners 105, 105′ as described before, but with motorsfor independent rotation of co-axial shafts 430, 431. The sensor headdrive system may be located at any suitable location on the frame andprovides rotation about Axis Z.

In the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 6, chuck 425 is rotatableabout Axis Z. The chuck 425 has a base member 425A that is substantiallycentered with Axis Z and is mated to a chuck drive of which only aportion of shaft 431 is shown in FIG. 6. The drive shaft 431 is co-axialwith shaft 430 and rotates about Axis Z. As noted before, the drivesection is capable of independent rotation of shafts 430, 431. The basemember 425A has arms 425B, 425C extending radially from the center ofrotation, Axis Z. Each arm 425B, 425C has a rest pad system 425Ddepending upwardly therefrom. In this embodiment, each rest pad system425D has two rest pad extension members 425E, 425F. In alternateembodiments, there may be any number of rest pad extension members. Eachrest pad extension member 425E, 425F has a generally stepped shape withhorizontal sections 425G, 425H forming rest pads. One set of rest pads425G form support for substrate 212 being scanned while the other set ofrest pads 425H forms buffer 440. In alternate embodiments there may beany number of buffers used. The rest pads 425G, 425H can be active orpassive gripping and may be made of transparent or non-transparentmaterial depending on the sensing device being used as described beforewith reference to pads 320A, 320B shown in FIG. 5. By way of example, inthis embodiment, rest pads 425G, 425H may be made of quartz or othersuitable material transparent to light beam L generated by sensor 424.The rest pads 425G, 425H are at a radial distance from Axis Z,sufficient to hold substrate 212 on its bottom peripheral edge while atthe same time allowing the edge of substrate 212 to be scanned by thesensing device 424. The rest pads 425G, 425H and the cantilever members423E of the sensor head are vertically spaced to allow a substratetransporter end effector 106 to access the rest pads 425G in order topick or place a substrate on the rest pads. The rest pad extensionmembers 425D do not rotationally interfere with the cantilever members423E. Rest pads 425G are positioned to pass between cantilever members423E. Rest pads 425H are positioned to pass under the lower mostcantilever member 423E.

Referring still to FIG. 6 and the flow chart in FIG. 9, an exemplaryoperation manner of the substrate aligner apparatus 105″ will bedescribed. A substrate transporter with a single end effector such asthose described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,765,983 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,577,879,both of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety,may be used with this exemplary embodiment. The substrate transporterend effector 106 (FIG. 1) enters the aligner above the chuck orbuffering system rest pads 425G through the frame opening (similar toopening 213 shown in FIG. 2A) and places a first substrate, similar tosubstrate 212, onto rest pads 425G (See Blocks 701, 702 in FIG. 9). Theempty end effector/substrate transporter may retract out of the aligner.It is noted that movements of the empty end effector may be conducted atgreater speed than when holding a substrate. If desired, the endeffector/substrate transporter may retrieve a second substrate foralignment (See block 705 in FIG. 9). In this embodiment the upper restpads 425G form scanning rest pads while lower rest pads 425H form bufferrest pads. If desired, in parallel with the transporter retrieving asecond substrate, the rotatable sensor head 423, in Block 703 of FIG. 9,is rotated by the sensor head drive shaft 430 to allow the sensingdevice 424 to detect the fiducial of the first substrate placed on theupper pads 425G.

Sensing device 424 can detect the fiducial independent of its placementon the chuck pads 425G. For example, even if the fiducial is resting onone of the rest pads 425G, the transparent material of the rest pads inway of the sensor through beam leaves the fiducial unmasked or sensableto the beam of the sensor 424. Also, the rest pads 425G grip thesubstrate on its edges leaving the upper surface of the substrateexposed, allowing, in an embodiment where the sensor is a reflective,capacitive or inductive sensor, fiducial detection without anyobstruction from the chuck 425 structure.

When the sensing device 424 detects the substrate alignment feature, asuitable indication signal is transmitted to a controller (not shown) toregister the detection of the substrate alignment feature. The chuck 425then rotates the substrate to a desired alignment orientation (See Block704 in FIG. 9). As may be realized, rotation of the sensor head 423 toscan the substrate and detect the fiducial may be performed at a muchhigher rate of rotation than chuck rotation to position the substrate.If desired, The substrate transporter/end effector 106 may enter theframe (See Block 705 in FIG. 9) in the same manner described above at aposition above the buffer rest pads 425H to buffer a second substrate onrest pads 425H. The transporter moves an empty end effector (that may bethe same end effector having buffered the second substrate or anotherempty end effector) up to a position between the first and secondsubstrates as they are held in the chuck 425. The end effector moves toa location under the first substrate held on pads 425G and picks thepositioned substrate from pads 425G for further processing (See Block706 in FIG. 9). In block 707 of FIG. 9, the substrate on the buffer pads425H, or a new substrate if desired, may be placed on the upper pads425G of the chuck 425. In alternate embodiments the rest pad extensionmembers 425D may be movable to allow vertical movement of the endeffector when transferring the buffered substrate to the upper rest padswithout the end effector partially retracting out of the aligner. Afterplacement of the second substrate onto pads 425G, the process in Blocks703-704 is repeated. As may be realized, the buffer on chuck 425increases the efficiency of the aligner by minimizing transfer times forloading the aligner.

Referring now to FIGS. 10A-10C, there is shown another substrate alignerapparatus 1105 in accordance with still yet another exemplaryembodiment. The aligner apparatus 1105 is respectively shown in FIGS.10A-10C in three different positions. The aligner apparatus 1105 in thisexemplary embodiment is generally similar to the aligner apparatus 105described before and shown in FIGS. 2A-2C, except as otherwise noted.Similar features are thus similarly numbered. Aligner apparatus 1105 hasa movable chuck 1206, a sensing device 1209 and a substrate transfersystem 1210. The aligner 1105 also has a drive system 1207 powering themovements of the movable chuck 1206. The transfer system 1210 isconfigured for holding the substrate 2112 in a fixed position inside thealigner. In this embodiment, the substrate transfer system 1210 hasmembers 1210A that are fixed to the aligner frame 1205 in any suitablemanner or position. The transfer system members 1210A may have anysuitable configuration, and are provided with substrate rest pads 1219(similar to rest pads 219 shown in FIG. 3). Rest pads 1219, in thisembodiment, are not movable but may provide a substrate placementposition used when scanning the substrate with sensing device 1209, aswill be described further below. Movable chuck 1206, has a generalinverted chuck configuration (similar to chuck 206 shown in FIG. 2A-2C).In this embodiment, chuck 1206 is movable both vertically (in thedirection indicated by arrow Z in FIG. 10b ) and is rotatable about axisor rotation θ. In this embodiment, the drive system 207 has rotatabledrive 1216 and linear drive sections 1222 connected by a transfer member1207T as shown in FIG. 10A. Linear drive 1222, similar to linear drive222 shown in FIGS. 2A-2C, is operably coupled to transfer member 1207T,and is capable of traversing the transfer member 1207T in the Zdirection relative to the aligner frame. The transfer member 1207T mayhave any suitable shape (the configuration shown in FIGS. 10A-10C ismerely exemplary) and may be movably mounted to the aligner frame 1205in any desired manner to allow relative movement between transfer memberand frame in the Z direction. As seen in FIG. 10A, the movable chuck1206 is mounted to the transfer member 1207T, and thus moves vertically(relative to the frame 1205) in unison with the transfer member.Chucking may be rotatably mounted relative to the transfer member 1207T(such as by suitable rotatable bearing or bushing system) so that chuck1206 may rotate relative to the transfer member and the aligner frameabout axis θ. Rotatable chuck 1206 is rotated about axis θ under impetusfrom rotational drive section 1216 coupled to the chuck 1206 by asuitable rotational drive transmission system (e.g. rotational driveshaft). In this embodiment, rotational drive section 1216 may also beborne by the movable transfer member 1207T. In alternate embodiments,the rotational drive may be mounted to the aligner frame and coupled tothe rotatable chuck by a suitable transmission capable of transmittingrotation to the chuck and accommodating linear motion of the chuckrelative to the aligner frame. In this embodiment, the sensing device1209 that is similar to sensing device 209 shown in FIG. 2A-2C) ismounted on chuck 1206 as shown in FIG. 10A. Sensing device 1209 ispositioned to sense the peripheral edge of substrate 212, and itsfiducial, when the substrate 212 is seated on the rest pads 1219 oftransfer system 1210. Sensing device 1219 is capable of detecting thefiducial 220 (see FIG. 3) of the substrate independent of theorientation of the substrate 212 and position of the fiducial relativeto rest pads 1219 or any other structure of the transfer system 1210.

In this embodiment, substrate alignment may be in the followingexemplary manner. Substrate 212, introduced into the aligner 1105 withend effector 106, may be positioned onto stationary transfer system restpads 1219 (see FIGS. 10A-10B). Scanning of the substrate 212, forfiducial detection, as well as eccentricity measurements if desired, maybe performed by rotating chuck 1206 (about axis θ), thereby rotating thesensor device 1209 relatively to stationary substrate and scanning theentire periphery of the substrate. As seen in FIG. 10B, in this position(i.e. the scanning position) the movable chuck 1206 has a verticalposition so that the chucks substrate rest pads 1206C (similar tosubstrate rest pads 206C described before) are located below the restpads 1219 of transfer system 1210 supporting the substrate 212 afterlocation of the fiducial 220 is identified, for example as describedabove by detection with sensor 1209 alignment of the substrate iseffected with movable chuck 1206. The chuck 1206 is moved in the Zdirection to pick the substrate (from the transfer system rest pads)with the substrate 212 resting on chuck resting pads 1206, nowpositioned above the resting pads 219 of the transfer system (see FIG.10C), the chuck is rotated about axis θ to place the substrate in thedesired alignment. The end effector 106 may pick the aligned substratefrom the rest pads 1206C of the chuck 1206. In the event the postalignment position of the chuck rest pads 1206C present an interferenceto a direct substrate pick by the end effector from the chuck 1206, thechuck 1206 may be moved to place the substrate on the rest pads 1219 oftransfer system 1210 (similar to the position shown in FIG. 10B) the endeffector picks the substrate 212 from the transfer system 1210. Thuspost alignment substrate transfer to the end effector may be performedwithout rotational repositioning of the substrate. As seen in FIG.10A-10C, the end effector may remain extended throughout the alignmentprocess.

The previously described exemplary embodiments of the aligner 105, 105′,105″, and 1105 have many advantages over conventional aligners. Some ofthe advantages of the aligners 105, 105′, 105″ and 1105 include but arenot limited to the following; elimination of robot re-tries in placingthe wafer in the aligner. The wafer may be arbitrarily oriented relativeto the end effector without the chuck ever being on the pick path of therobot end effector. The wafer may be aligned properly, without robotre-tries, even for the case when the fiducial lies on top of the alignerchuck pads. As described before, the align times of the presentinvention are significantly shorter than the align times of conventionalaligners. The wafer may always be moved by edge contact without rollingor slipping relative to the chuck, therefore yielding minimum particlegeneration. During the entire wafer alignment process the robot endeffector may stay positioned under the aligner and substrate without anymechanical interference during the alignment process. This means thatthe wafer may be aligned and placed on the robot end effector with oneextend and one retract motion from the aligner station. In addition,only one wafer lift is employed in order to allow the wafer to be pickedat the desired post-positioning orientation. Multiple vertical moves areeliminated. This yields minimum wafer walking and optimal alignerthroughput.

Referring now to FIG. 11, there is shown a substrate aligner apparatus1105′ in accordance with yet another exemplary embodiment, and asubstrate 212. The aligner apparatus 1105′ is generally similar toapparatus 105′ described before and shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 except asotherwise noted below. Similar features are similarly numbered. Thesubstrate aligner apparatus 1105′ generally has a support section 1010,and two substrate supports 1318, 1319. The support section 1010generally operates as a foundation or base for the aligner apparatus1105′. The support structure 1010 may have mounts (not shown) formounting the aligner apparatus to structure of a processing apparatussimilar to apparatus 100 in FIG. 1. The support structure 1010 may havea casing or cover 1010C for enclosing and protecting components andintervals (described further below) of the support structure fromhostile conditions (e.g. moisture or corrosive atmosphere). FIG. 11Ashows the aligner apparatus 1105′ with the casing 1010C removed from thesupport section 1010. The shape of the casing 1010C shown in FIG. 11 ismerely exemplary and the casing may have any desired shape. Thesubstrates supports 1318, 1319 are mounted to the aligner apparatussupport structure 1010 as shown. Each substrate support 1318, 1319 iscapable of holding one (or more) substrate(s) similar to substrate 212as will be described below. In FIGS. 11-11A, substrate 212 is shownsupported on support 1319 for example purposes. In this exemplaryembodiment, one substrate support 1318 is movable relative to thesupport section. The other substrate support 1319 may be fixed relativeto the support structure. In alternate embodiments, both substratesupports may be movable with respect to the support structure. Thealigner apparatus 1105′ has a drive system 1321 located in supportsection 1010 for moving the substrate support 1318 and effectingalignment of the substrate 212 as will be described further below.

Referring now also to FIG. 12, there is shown a partial perspective viewof the aligner apparatus 1105′. The substrate 212 is omitted forclarity, and substrate support 1318 is moved to a different positionfrom that shown in FIGS. 11-11A. In this exemplary embodiment, thesubstrate support 1318 has a base member 1318A that extends generallyradially and connects the substrate support 1318 to a rotatable shaft ofthe drive system 1321 (in a manner similar to the connection betweenbase member 318 to drive section 321 shown in FIG. 5). The base member1318 is vertically positioned to avoid interfering with structure of theother substrate support 1319 as will be seen below. As shown in FIG. 12,the substrate support 1318 may have a generally upstanding member 1318B,projecting generally vertically from the base member 1318. Substratesupport 1318 may also have span member 1318C extending laterally asshown from the base member 1318A. In alternate embodiments, the movablesubstrate support, and its members, may have any other desired shape.The span member 1318C has a general bent around, in this exemplaryembodiment arcuate, shape extending around axis of rotation Z of therotatable shaft of drive system 1321. As may be realized, the axis ofrotation Z is located substantially coincident with the geometric centerof the substrate support 1318 (and shall be referred to denote bothrotation axis and geometric center from herein). The radius of thearcuate shaped span member 1318C may be greater than the expected radiusof the substrate 212 (e.g. substrate 212 may be a 200 mm, 300 mm waferor any desired size wafer). This ensures that a clearance gap isestablished with the structure of substrate support 1319, therebyallowing the substrate supports 1318, 1319 to be moved one past theother in the vertical direction (indicated by arrow Z₁ in FIG. 12), andallowing the support 1318 to be rotated freely and continuously aboutaxis of rotation Z (in the direction indicated by arrow A) withoutinterference with support 1319. As seen in FIG. 12 the opposite ends1318E of the span member 1318C are separated by a gap. The gap betweenends 1318E of the span member is sized sufficiently wide to allow an endeffector, for example similar to end effector 106, which may be an edgegripping end effector, to pass through the substrate support 1318. Thismay allow for expedited alignment process and hence greater throughputas will be described in greater detail below. In this exemplaryembodiment, the span member 1318C has substrate support pass or fingers1316A, 1316 b. In this embodiment, the span member has two pairs 1316A,1316B of support pads, one pair disposed on opposite sides of the spanmember. The support pads 1316A, 1316B are distributed on the span memberso that any three pads may stably support and hold the substrate 212 onsubstrate support 1318 even when the support is moving in the Z₁, or θdirections. The support pads 1316A, 1316B are substantially similar toeach other and substrate supports 316A, 316B shown in FIG. 5. Thesupport pads 1316A, 1316B may be configured to provide a passive edgegrip to a substrate 212 seated on the substrate supports 1318. The pads1316A, 1316B may be covered with or made for example from Kalrez®elastomer or any other suitable contact grip material capable ofproviding a suitable friction coefficient to hold the substrate underthe inertial loads generated during movement (rotation) of the substratesupport 1318.

Still referring to FIG. 12, in this exemplary embodiment, the substratesupport 1318 has a sensor head 1318A mounted thereon. In alternateembodiments, more than one sensor head may be mounted on the rotatablesubstrate support. The sensor head 1318H has a sensing device 1317capable of sensing the presence, and hence lack thereof, of theperipheral edge of the substrate 212. In this embodiment, the sensingdevice may be a through beam type sensing device. Accordingly, thesensing device 1317 may have an emitter 1317A, capable of emitting abeam of electromagnetic radiation, for example a laser or LED. Thesensing device 1317 may also have a detector 1317B capable of detectingthe beam of electromagnetic radiation from the emitter, for example aCLD or photocell. The emitter and sensor are spaced apart to receive andsense the peripheral edge of the substrate 212, when gated on thesubstrate support 1319, as will be described further below. The sensingdevice 1317 may if desired be a linear/sheet or array type of sensingdevice. The emitter 1317A, may use suitable optical devices, such aslenses, beam splitters and collimators (not shown) to provide a linearlydistributed beam rather than a columinated or spot beam. The detector1317B may employ an array of detectors, such as a CLD, distributed alongthe illumination path of the beam. As may be realized, detector 1317B iscapable of sensing the linear position along the sensing array of theperipheral edge of the substrate. Hence, as the sensor head is rotatedrelative to the substrate, the sensing device is capable of detectingthe relative position of the substrate peripheral edge, therebyproviding a suitable signal/data to determine eccentricity of thesubstrate on the substrate support 1319. As also may be realized, thearray sensor device is capable of detecting the fiducial notch in thesubstrate to establish the alignment position of the substrate. Inalternate embodiments, the emitter in the sensing device may emit acoluminated beam that is detected by the detector, if sensing thefiducial and not substrate eccentricity is desired.

Still referring to FIG. 12, the substrate support 1319 in this exemplaryembodiment is nested as shown in the span member 1318C of support 1318.The substrate support 1319 is located generally above the sensor headbase member 1318A. The substrate support 1319 has a span member 1319Acentered substantially coincident with axis Z. The substrate support1319 may be connected to a substrate support member similar to member322, also located substantially along axis Z. In this embodiment, thespan member 1319A has two pairs of support fingers, though in alternateembodiments the span member may have any desired shape, terminating inupward extension members 1319B. In alternate embodiments there may beany number of upward extension members depending from the span member1319A. The extension members 1319B, at opposite ends of span 1319A arespaced sufficiently apart to allow an edge gripping end effector to passin between. The upward extension members 1319B have rest pads 1320A,1320B as shown. The substrate support rest pads 320A, 320B areconfigured to support the bottom peripheral edge of substrate 212. Theextension members 1319B have a suitable height so that the end effector,similar to end effector 106 may be located between the extension members1319 b, and not interfering with span member 1319A when the substrate212 is seated on rest pads 1320A, 1320B. Accordingly, support 1319 oflid has a pass-through configuration allowing the end effector to pickand place substrates directly onto substrate support 1319 for increasedthroughput. The rest pads 1329A, 1320B may overlap at least in part thesensor head device 1317A of sensor head 1317 (similar to pads 1320A,1320B in FIG. 5). Rest pads 1320A, 1320B may actively or passively gripsubstrate 212. Rest pads 1320A, 1320B or at least a portion thereof inway of sensor devices 1317A, 1317B may also be made of a transparentmaterial so that a beam of radiation from sensors 1317A, 1317B, capableof detecting the edge of the substrate 212 when seated on rest pads1320A, 1320B, passes through the portion of the rest pads 1320A, 1320Bin way of the beam so as to be able to detect the edge of the substrate212 and the fiducial on the edge. The material for the rest pads 1320A,1320B may for example be quartz, optically transparent to light beams,or any other suitable material. In alternate embodiments, when a sensorsuch as a reflective sensor is used, the rest pads 1320A, 1320B may beof a non-transparent material. In alternate embodiments, the substratesupport system 1319 may have any other desired configuration.

Referring now to FIG. 13, there is shown a cutaway perspective view ofthe aligner support structure 1010. FIG. 13 also shows the aligner drivesystem 1321 located in the support structure. In this embodiment, thedrive system 1321 may have a rotational drive section 1324 (generatingthe rotation of the substrate support about the Z axis) and a lineardrive section 1326 (for generating the Z₁ linear motion of the substratesupport). FIG. 13A shows a cross-sectional view of the linear drivesection 1325 and FIG. 13b shows a cross-sectional view of the rotationaldrive section 1324. The rotational drive section 1324 generally has amotor 1326 and a shaft 1328. The motor 1326 is coupled to the shaft 1328to rotate the shaft as will be described further below. The shaft 1328is coupled to the substrate support 1318 (in particular to base member1318A of support 1318, see FIG. 12) as described before. In thisembodiment shaft 1328 is fixed to support 1318 so that shaft and supportrotates as a unit. Referring again to FIG. 13B, the motor 1326 islocated in a suitable housing 1332. The motor 1326 is a rotary motor ofany suitable type, such as a brushless AC, DC or stepper motor. Themotor rotor, which is affixed to the motor drive shaft has an absoluteencoder 1334 (located in encoder housing 1334H) that is communicablyconnected to the controller (not shown) to determine the absoluteposition of the rotor/shaft. In the exemplary embodiment shown, themotor 1326 is mounted to the support structure 1010 offset from theshaft 1328 rotating the substrate support 1318. As may be realized,mounting the rotational section motor 1326 offset from the shaft 1328allows the profile (i.e. height) of the support structure 1010 to bereduced as the assembly height of the drive system components assembledto form the drive system 1321 is reduced. For example, the rotationaldrive components and linear drive components may overlap in order tominimize drive system height. In alternate embodiments, the motor andoutput shaft of the rotational drive section may have any other desiredconfiguration, such as for example co-axial. As seen in FIG. 13B, shaft1328 is held in the support structure 1010, by suitable bearings, torotate about axis Z. Shaft 1318 may be hollow. Post 1322, to whichsubstrate support 1319 is fixed (in a manner similar to substrate 319 isfixed to shaft 322 as shown in FIG. 5) may extend within hollow shaft1328 as shown. Suitable rotational and linear bearings (not shown) maybe located inside shaft 1328 to stably hold post 1322, and post 1322 andshaft 1328 may be concentric and coaxial with axis Z. The top 1328T ofshaft 1328 projects above the cover of support structure 1010 (see FIG.18) providing a suitable connecting section for attachment of substratesupport 1318. The shaft 1328 has a slip ring 1336 mounted thereonproviding a suitable rotating interface for power and data/communicationlines (not shown) feeding the powered or operable components (e.g. thesensor head 1318H) on the substrate support 1318. As may be realized,the slip ring 1336 on shaft 1328 allows for continuous rotation of thesubstrate support 1318. In this embodiment, the motor 1326 is coupled toshaft 1328 by a suitable transmission 1330. The transmission 1330 inthis embodiment has drive pulleys 3300, fixed on motor shaft/drivepinion 1326S, and idler pulley 1330P fixed on to shaft 1328. The drivepulley 1330 d axis/idler pulley 1330P are drivingly connected by anendless belt, allowing continuous rotation of shaft 1328 and hencesubstrate support 1318 about axis Z.

Referring now again to FIG. 13A, the linear drive section 1325 generallyhas a linear drive 1338 and a lift pad/post/carriage 1340. The lineardrive 1341 is coupled to lift pad 1340 to effect rectilinear motion ofthe lift pad 1340 relative to support structure 1010 as will bedescribed below. (e.g. in this exemplary embodiment the linear padmotion may be up and down in the direction indicated by arrow Z₁ inFIGS. 13A, 12). In this embodiment, the shaft 1328 and motor 1326 ofrotational drive section 1324, may be fixed to the linear pad so thatshaft 1328, motor 1326 (and thereby support 1329) and lift pad 1340 moveas a unit in the Z₁ direction. In alternate embodiments, the supportpost 1322 of the substrate support 1319, may be fixed to the lift pad1340 so that support post 1322 (with substrate support 1319) and liftpad 1340 move as a unit in the Z₁ direction. Accordingly, in thisalternate embodiment, it is substrate support 1319 that is movable indirection Z₁ (see FIG. 12) and substrate support 1318 may be capable ofrotation, about axis Z, but not of linear movement in Z₁. In theexemplary embodiment, if the post 1322 and substrate support 1319 heldthereon, are fixed relative to support structure 1010, the bottom end ofpost 1322 may be fixed in any suitable manner to structure 1010.Referring back to FIG. 13A, linear drive 1338 may have a motor 1342,such as a brushless AC, DC or stepper motor or any other suitable motortype, located in motor housing 1342C.

The motor rotor is fixed to a motor drive shaft 1342S, that in turn iscoupled to a base or lead screw 1348 so that shaft 1342S and screw 1348turn as a unit. The rotor or shaft has an absolute encoder 1346 mountedthereon for position determination. As seen in FIG. 13A, the lineardrive 1338 may have linear bearings 1344 riding rails affixed to supportstructure supports 1010S. The linear bearings 1344 are mounted to aslide collar 1350 that rides on lead screw 1348. As may be realized, thelinear bearings 1344 rotationally fix the slide collar 1350, relative tosupport structure 1010, but allow the collar to travel freely in the Z₁direction. Hence rotation of the lead screw 1348 causes the slide collar1350 to travel linearly in the Z₁ direction. Lift pad 1340 is fixed tothe slide collar to move as a unit with the slide collar.

The operation of aligner 1105′ is substantially similar to operation ofaligner 105′ described before and shown in FIG. 8. Referring again toFIGS. 11-11A, the substrate transporter enters the aligner and placessubstrate 212 on support 1319 (blocks G01, G02 in FIG. 8). The passthrough configuration of substrate support 1318 as well as substratesupport 1319 (see FIG. 12) allow the sensor scanning, similar to block603 in FIG. 8, to commence immediately on placement of the substrate 212onto support pads of support 1319. Upon placing the substrate 212 ontosupport 1319, the transporter end effector 1110 (seen in phantom in FIG.12) is located within the space 1318E (between the opposite ends 1318Eof span member 1318C) with sufficient clearance between the span memberends 1318E and the end effector 1110 that the support 1318, and hencesensor head 1318H, may commence rotation to scan the edge of substrate212 without interference with the withdrawing effector. As may berealized, rotation of support 1318 and withdrawal of end effector 1110are synchronized by the controller (not shown) to prevent contactbetween support 1318 and end effector 1110. As may also be realized, inthis embodiment, and different from block 603 in FIG. 8, the endeffector withdraws from the aligner when the sensor head 1318H rotatesand scans the substrate. Otherwise, the scan in block 603 of FIG. 8 isthe same in this embodiment. Having located the substrate fiducial, thesubstrate 212 is transferred to support 1318 (e.g. raising support 1318or lowering support 1319) similar to block 604, the substrate support1318 rotates the substrate to the post alignment position, similar toblock 605, and the substrate is transferred to the end effector, similarto block 606. As described before, in this embodiment, rotation to scan,similar to block 603, with empty support 1318 can be performed at ahigher speed than if the substrate was being rotated during scanning asin conventional aligners. In the case the sensing device 1317 in thesensor head has a sheet array as described, and hence the eccentricityof the substrate 212 is also established during scanning similar toblock 603, then the end effector 1110 may be suitably positionedrelative to the substrate at transfer, similar to block 606, to correctthe substrate eccentricity on transfer.

Referring now to FIG. 14, there is shown a schematic perspective view ofan aligner apparatus 2105′ in accordance with another exemplaryembodiment. Except as otherwise noted, aligner 2105′ is substantiallysimilar to aligner 1105′ described before and shown in FIGS. 11-13B.Similar features are similarly numbered. In this embodiment, the aligner2105′ has support structure 2010, rotatable substrate support 2318, andanother substrate support 2319. Aligner 2105′ also has a mapper 2350 asshown. The mapper 2350 in this embodiment has a pair of sensor heads2350A, 2350B. The sensor heads 2350A, 2350B are substantially similar toeach other. Each sensor head 2350A, 2350B has a housing defining achannel and a suitable sensor capable of sensing the presence of asubstrate passing through the channel. In this embodiment the sensor maybe a through beam sensor emitting a beam across the channel that whenbroken by passage of a portion of the substrate through the channel,causes a signal indicating the presence of the substrate. The sensorheads 2350A, 2350B of the mapper are mounted by suitable frame to thesupport structure 2010 as shown. The sensor heads 2350A, 2350B arelocated athwart the transport path R of the substrate 212 whentransported by the transporter into the aligner. The sensor heads 2350A,2350B are positioned so that one or both sides of the opposite sides212A, 212B of the peripheral edge of the substrates passes through thecorresponding sensor head 2350A, 2350B when the substrate enters thealigner 2105′. Accordingly, the mapper 2350 is capable of determiningthe rough or fine eccentricity of the substrate prior to substrateplacement onto substrate supports 2318, 2319. This in turn allows thetransporter, similar to transporter 1110 in FIG. 12, to more accuratelyposition the substrates 212 onto the substrate supports 2318, 2319. Inalternate embodiments, any other suitable coarse positioning device maybe used to position the substrate relative to the substrate supports.

Referring now to FIG. 15, there is shown a schematic cross-sectionalview of the substrate supports 2318, 2319 of the aligner 2105′. In thisexemplary embodiment, the substrate supports 2318, 2319 have supportpads 2320A, 2320B to support the substrate placed thereon. The supportpads 2320A, 2320B are configured to contact the underside of thesubstrate. Moreover, as shown in FIG. 15, support pads 2320A, 2320B areconfigured to contact the substrate, away from the substrate edge 212E,but within the SEMI standard defined exclusion region 212X around theperimeter of the substrate. By way of example, the SEMI standards definean exclusion region around the substrate perimeter of about 3.0 mm. Thesupport pads 2320A, 2320B are thus arranged so that the contact surfacesof the pads, contact the substrate supported thereon, only within theexclusion region 212X without contacting the edge region of thesubstrate. The configuration of the support pads shown in FIG. 15 ismerely exemplary, and in alternate embodiments, the support pads mayhave any other desired configuration. The support pads 2320A, 2320B maybe located sufficiently away from the substrate edge so that thesubstrate fiducial 220 (see FIG. 3) is not positioned over a support padwhen the substrate is supported on the supports pads. For example, theSEMI standards define the fiducial radial depth at about 1 mm. Thesupport pad contact surface may, for example, be located and sized toextend no closer to the edge of the substrate than about 1.5 mm. Hence,this avoids placement of the fiducial 220 over the support pads.Moreover, as the fiducial is not positioned over the support pads 2320A,2320B of the substrate support, the support pads may be made from amaterial other than a material transparent to the sensing device insensor head 2318H (see FIG. 14). Support pads 2320A, 2320B may also beclear of (i.e. not overlapped with) support pads 2316A, 2316B of support2318, thereby avoiding any interference therebetween during substratetransfer between substrate supports 2318, 2319. Accordingly, thiseliminates a possible source of retries resulting in an improvement inthroughput of the aligner.

The aligner 105′, 1105′, 2105′ described before may be mounted anywhereon the processing tool 100 (see FIG. 1) structure. The aligner may alsobe mounted on the substrate transporter of the processing tool toprovide what may be referred to as a minimum overhead arrangement. FIG.16 shows a perspective view of aligner 1105′ (illustrates schematically)and substrate transporter 106′ in accordance with an exemplaryembodiment. The aligner 1105′ is shown removed from the substratetransporter 106′ for clarity the transporter 106′ is a representativesubstrate transporter, shown in FIG. 16 as having a support section 22and movable arm 24 for example purposes. In alternate embodiments, thetransporter may have any suitable configuration. The movable arm 24 isshown in FIG. 16 as having a general scara type configuration also forexample purposes. The arm 24 is supported atop the support section 22.The arm 24 has movable arm links capable of being rotated, by drivesection 26, about respective shoulder T₁, elbow T₂ and wrist W axes ofrotation to articulate the arm. The proximal arm link 106U rotates aboutthe shoulder axis T₁. The distal arm link 15 on end effector 106E,rotatable about wrist axis W. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 16, endeffector 106E is shown as a forked effector with edge grips, though anysuitable end effector configuration may be used. The aligner 1105′ maybe mounted to proximal arm link 106U. The aligner 1105′ may bepositioned on the arm link so that the axis of rotation Z (see FIG. 12)of the aligner is substantially coincident with shoulder axis ofrotation T₁. The aligner support structure 1010, see FIGS. 11 and 13,may be located, at least in part, inside the shell of the proximal armlink 1060. The aligner substrate supports 1318, 1319 are located toallow the end effector 106E to be rotated so that a substrate carriedthereon may be positioned with its center proximate to shoulder axis T₁,and over the substrate supports of the aligner. Transfer of substratesbetween end effector 106E and substrate supports 1318, 1319 may beeffected in this exemplary embodiment with the substrate support movablein the Z₁ direction (see FIG. 12). Otherwise aligner operation issimilar to that described before.

Referring now to FIG. 17, there is shown a schematic perspective view ofan aligner apparatus 3105′ in accordance with another exemplaryembodiment. Except as otherwise noted below aligner 3105′ issubstantially similar to aligner 1105′ described before. Similarfeatures are similarly numbered. As shown, aligner 3105′ also generallyhas a support section 3010 and two substrate supports 3318, 3319. Thesubstrate supports 3318, 3319 are generally supported from the supportsection 3010. As seen in FIG. 17, support 3319 is located within support3318 and hence supports 3318, 3319 may be respectively referred to asouter and inner supports.

In this embodiment, outer support 3318 may be fixed relative to thesupport section 3010. The inner support 3319 may be movable relative tothe support section 3010 as will be described below. In alternateembodiments, both outer and inner substrate supports may be movablerelative to the support structure 3010. As shown in FIG. 17, substratesupport 3318 has opposing support arms 3316A, 3316B extending from abase member 3318A. In this embodiment, each of the support arms 3316A,3316B has two vertically spaced pairs of support pads 3316A1, 3316A2,3316B1, 3316B2. The support pads 3316A, 3316A2, 3316B1, 3316B2 of eachpair are substantially coplanar with each other and with the supportpads of a corresponding pair on the opposing support arm 3316A, 3316B.By way of example, pads 3316A, are coplanar with each other and withopposing pair 3316B1. Opposing substrate pad pairs 3316A1, 3316B1 formsubstrate hold H1, and opposing substrate pad pairs 3316A2, 3316B2, formsubstrate hold H2 on substrate support 3318. The substrate holds H1, H2may be used for buffering substrates in the aligner as will be describedbelow. In alternate embodiments, the substrate support may have moresubstrate buffers as desired. The vertical spacing between thecorresponding substrate pad pairs 3316A, 3316A2, 3316B1, 3316B2 on therespective support arms is sufficient to allow a substrate transporter,similar to transporter 106 in FIG. 5 to transport a substrate, alongpath R, R, to position in substrate hold 1. As shown in FIG. 17, sensorhead 3318H is mounted to the structure of substrate support 3318. Thesensor head 3318H has a suitable sensing device 3317. In thisembodiment, sensing device 3317 may be a through beam sensing device,similar to sensing device 1317 described before, capable of sensing thepresence of a substrate. The sensing device may have an emitter 3317A(e.g. laser, LED) and emission detector (e.g. CCD, photocell) 3317Blocated as shown capable of sensing fiducial 220 (see FIG. 3) in theperipheral edge of a substrate located at either hold H1 or hold H2 aswill be described below.

Referring still to FIG. 17, the other substrate support 3319 has aconfiguration that is substantially similar to substrate support 1319 inFIG. 12. The substrate support 3319 has support pads 3320A, 3320B toform a substrate hold location on support 3319. In alternateembodiments, the substrate support may have more than one substrate holdlocation, to buffer one or more substrates. The support pads 3320A,3320B may be similar to pads 1320A, 1320B shown in FIG. 12. For example,the pads 3320A, 3320B may be edge gripping pads, made of materialtransparent to sensing device 3317. In alternate embodiments, thesupport pads may be similar to 2320A, 2320B, shown in FIG. 15, locatedto contact the bottom of the substrate 212 within the SEMI definedexclusion zone, and away from the edge of the substrate and its fiducialas previously described. The substrate support 3319, in this exemplaryembodiment, is rotatable about axis of rotation Z, relative to thesupport section 3010, and substrate support 3318. The substrate support3319 may also be moved rectilinearly in direction indicated by arrow Z₁.The substrate support 3319 is connected to a drive system 3321, locatedin support 3010, having both rotation and linear drive sections, similarto drive sections 1324, 1325 shown in FIGS. 13, 13 a-13 b, capable ofrotating support 3319 about the Z axis and linearly moving the supportin the direction indicated by arrow Z₁. FIG. 18 is a cross-sectionalview of substrate supports 3318, 3319 of aligner 3105′. As seen in FIG.18, the substrate support 3319 is capable of being moved, by drivesystem 3321 in direction Z₁ from its register position So, to scanpositions S1, S2 (shown in phantom in FIG. 18). The scan positions arecommensurate with the hold of buffer positions H1, H2 of substratesupport 3318. Hence, in this embodiment, there are two scan positions.Scan position S1 of support 3319 corresponds to hold H1 of support 3318,and scan position S2 corresponds to hold position H2. In alternateembodiments, the substrate support movable in the Z₁ direction may havemore scan positions.

FIGS. 19A-19D are other cross-sectional views of the substrate supports3318, 3319 of aligner 3105′ respectively showing the substrate supportsin four different conditions that serve to illustrate operation of thealigner with the multi-layer buffering system. Specifically, in FIG. 19Aa substrate 212A is placed, by a substrate transporter similar totransporter 106, in hold H1 of substrate support 3318. The othersubstrate support 3319 is located in register position So as shown. Thecondition depicted in FIG. 19A may be at the start of a batch alignmentoperation. In FIG. 19B, the substrates support is raised to scanposition S1. The substrate 212A, shown resting in hold H1 in FIG. 19A,is picked from hold H1 by support 3319 and positioned in scan position.The aligner may be provided with a suitable optical characterrecognition reader (OCR) (not shown) located to read indicia on thesubstrate 212A when held by support 3319 in position S1. In thisposition, the substrate support 3319 may be rotated about axis Z causingthe sensing device 3317 (see also FIG. 17) to scan the substrateperiphery and identify fiducial 220 as substrate 212A rotates with thesupport. Rotation of the support 3314 may also allow the OCR to read theindicia in its field of view. With the fiducial located, support 3319still in position S1 may be rotated to provide substrate 212A with thedesired post alignment position. In FIG. 19C, the substrate support 3319is returned to the register position So (or if not the registerposition, a position below hold H1). As the support 3319 moves towardsits register position, it places the now post-alignment positionedsubstrate 212A′ on hold H1. Substrate 212B is buffered in hold H2,having been placed there by the transporter either during positioning ofsubstrate 212A with support 3319, or when the support 3319 is placingpost-alignment positioned substrate 212A′ on hold H1. The transportermay swap substrate 212B with substrate 212A′, removing the alignedsubstrate from the aligner. In FIG. 19D, the substrate support 3319 israised to scan position 52. Substrate 212B, shown buffered hold in H2 inFIG. 19C, is picked from hold H2 by support 3319 and positioned to bescanned. The aligner may have another OCR reader (not shown) located toread indicia on substrate 212B when held by support 3319 in position 52.The support 3319 may again be rotated about axis Z allowing the sensingdevice to scan the periphery of the substrate 212B to locate thefiducial. Upon locating the fiducial, the support 3319 is rotated toplace the substrate thereon in its post-alignment position. The support3319 may again be returned to a position similar to that shown in FIG.19C. The substrate holds H1, H2 of support 3318, may each hold asubstrate, similar to what is shown in FIG. 19C, except that thebuffered substrate would be in hold H1, and the aligned substrate 212Bwould be in hold H2. The above process may be repeated as desired.

As noted before, in alternate embodiments, substrate support 3318 may bemovable in the Z₁ direction, while substrate support 3319 may berotatable about the Z axis but fixed in direction Z₁. As may berealized, the alignment process is carried out in substantially the samemanner as shown in FIGS. 19A-19D, except that the vertical (i.e. Z₁)movements are carried out by Z₁ movable support 3318 rather than support3319 as shown in the figures. Accordingly, support 3319 has but one Z₁position, similar to position So. However, the Z₁ movable support 3318can be displaced down so that the apparatus position of the support 3319relative to support 3318 and holds H1, H2 are similar to position S1, S2shown in FIGS. 18 and 19A-19D.

It should be understood that the foregoing description is onlyillustrative of the invention. Various alternatives and modificationscan be devised by those skilled in the art without departing from theinvention. Accordingly, the present invention is intended to embrace allsuch alternatives, modifications and variances which fall within thescope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A substrate aligner apparatus comprising: a frameadapted to allow a substrate transporter to transport a substrate to andfrom the aligner apparatus; a first substrate support system mounted tothe frame and including a first substrate support frame with a first setof passive edge grip support pads depending from the first substratesupport frame for holding a substrate in a first plane such that eachpad in the first set of passive edge grip support pads edge grip thesubstrate supporting the substrate in the first plane; a secondsubstrate support system, distinct from the first substrate supportsystem, mounted to the frame and having a second set of passive edgegrip support pads, independent of the first set of passive edge gripsupport pads for edge grip holding the substrate in a second plane; andat least one sensing device for detecting a substrate positiondetermining feature of the substrate; wherein the first substratesupport system and the second substrate support system are movablymounted to the frame by a drive system, the drive system beingconfigured to rotate the first substrate support system relative to theframe and linearly move the second substrate support system relative tothe first substrate support system with all passive edge grip supportpads in the first set of passive edge grip support pads and the secondset of passive edge grip support pads being radially passive, so as tobe radially static relative to each other and the substrate, foreffecting substrate transfer between the first substrate support systemand the second substrate support system, and substrate placement at adetection position of the at least one sensing device, so as to effectthe detection of the substrate position determining feature independentof rotation of the substrate, and effect a repositioning of thesubstrate.
 2. The substrate aligner apparatus according to claim 1,wherein at least one of the first substrate support system and thesecond substrate support system are configured to move relative to theother of the first substrate support system and the second substratesupport system and lift the substrate from one of the first substratesupport system and the second substrate support system.
 3. The substratealigner apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second substratesupport system is mounted to the frame by the drive system configuredfor rotatably and linearly moving the second substrate support systemfor effecting the substrate placement at a detection position so as toeffect detection of the substrate position determining feature of thesubstrate, and a repositioning of the substrate.
 4. The substratealigner apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first substratesupport system is mounted to the frame by the drive system configuredfor rotatably and linearly moving the first substrate support system foreffecting the detection of the substrate position determining feature ofthe substrate and a repositioning of the substrate.
 5. The substratealigner apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first substratesupport system and the second substrate support system are rotatablymounted to the frame by the drive system that is configured forgenerating rotation between the second substrate support system and thefirst substrate support system relative to each other for effecting thedetection of the substrate position determining feature of the substrateand a repositioning of the substrate.
 6. The substrate aligner apparatusaccording to claim 1, wherein the at least one sensing device is anoptical sensing device.
 7. A substrate processing apparatus comprising asubstrate aligner as in claim
 1. 8. A substrate aligner apparatuscomprising: a frame adapted to allow a substrate transporter totransport a substrate to and from the aligner apparatus; a firstsubstrate support system mounted to the frame and including a firstsubstrate support frame with a first set of passive edge grip supportpads depending from the first substrate support frame for holding asubstrate in a first plane such that each pad in the first set ofpassive edge grip support pads edge grip the substrate supporting thesubstrate in the first plane; a second substrate support system,distinct from the first substrate support system, mounted to the frameand having a second set of passive edge grip support pads, independentof the first set of passive edge grip support pads for edge grip holdingthe substrate in a second plane; and at least one sensing device fordetecting a substrate position determining feature of the substrate;wherein the first substrate support system and the second substratesupport system are movably mounted to the frame by a drive system, thedrive system being configured such that at least one of the firstsubstrate support system and the second substrate support systemrotatably and linearly moves relative to the other of the firstsubstrate support system and the second substrate support system, sothat the first substrate support system and the second substrate supportsystem are relatively moved with respect to each other both rotationallyand linearly, for effecting substrate transfer between the firstsubstrate support system and the second substrate support system, andsubstrate placement at a detection position of the at least one sensingdevice, so as to effect the detection of the substrate positiondetermining feature with the substrate static, and effect arepositioning of the substrate.
 9. The substrate aligner apparatusaccording to claim 8, wherein at least one of the first substratesupport system and the second substrate support system are configured tomove relative to the other of the first substrate support system and thesecond substrate support system and lift the substrate from one of thefirst substrate support system and the second substrate support system.10. The substrate aligner apparatus according to claim 8, wherein thesecond substrate support system is mounted to the frame by the drivesystem configured for rotatably and linearly moving the second substratesupport system for effecting the substrate placement at a detectionposition so as to effect detection of the substrate position determiningfeature of the substrate and a repositioning of the substrate.
 11. Thesubstrate aligner apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the firstsubstrate support system is mounted to the frame by the drive systemconfigured for rotatably and linearly moving the first substrate supportsystem for effecting the detection of the substrate position determiningfeature of the substrate and a repositioning of the substrate.
 12. Thesubstrate aligner apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the firstsubstrate support system and the second substrate support system arerotatably mounted to the frame by the drive system that is configuredfor generating rotation between the second substrate support system andthe first substrate support system relative to each other for effectingthe detection of the substrate position determining feature of thesubstrate and a repositioning of the substrate.
 13. The substratealigner apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the at least one sensingdevice is an optical sensing device.
 14. A substrate processingapparatus comprising a substrate aligner as in claim
 8. 15. A methodcomprising: providing a frame of a substrate aligner apparatus, theframe adapted to allow a substrate transporter to transport a substrateto and from the aligner apparatus; providing a first substrate supportsystem, the first substrate support system being mounted to the frameand including a first substrate support frame with a first set ofpassive edge grip support pads depending from the first substratesupport frame for holding a substrate in a first plane such that eachpad in the first set of passive edge grip support pads edge grip thesubstrate supporting the substrate in the first plane; providing asecond substrate support system, distinct from the first substratesupport system, the second substrate support system being mounted to theframe and having a second set of passive edge grip support pads,independent of the set of passive edge grip support pads for edge gripholding the substrate in a second plane; and detecting, with at leastone sensing device, a substrate position determining feature of thesubstrate; wherein the first substrate support system and the secondsubstrate support system are movably mounted to the frame by a drivesystem, the drive system being configured to rotate the first substratesupport system relative to the frame and linearly move the secondsubstrate support system relative to the first substrate support systemwith all passive edge grip support pads in the first set of passive edgegrip support pads and the second set of passive edge grip support padsbeing radially passive, so as to be radially static relative to eachother and the substrate, for effecting substrate transfer between thefirst substrate support system and the second substrate support system,and substrate placement at a detection position of the at least onesensing device, so as to effect the detection of the substrate positiondetermining feature independent of rotation of the substrate, and effecta repositioning of the substrate.
 16. The method according to claim 15,wherein at least one of the first substrate support system and thesecond substrate support system are configured to move relative to theother of the first substrate support system and the second substratesupport system and lift the substrate from one of the first substratesupport system and the second substrate support system.
 17. The methodaccording to claim 15, wherein the second substrate support system ismounted to the frame by the drive system configured for rotatably andlinearly moving the second substrate support system for effecting thesubstrate placement at a detection position so as to effect detection ofthe substrate position determining feature of the substrate and arepositioning of the substrate.
 18. The method according to claim 15,wherein the first substrate support system is mounted to the frame bythe drive system configured for rotatably and linearly moving the firstsubstrate support system for effecting the detection of the substrateposition determining feature of the substrate and a repositioning of thesubstrate.
 19. The method according to claim 15, wherein the firstsubstrate support system and the second substrate support system arerotatably mounted to the frame by the drive system that is configuredfor generating rotation between the second substrate support system andthe first substrate support system relative to each other for effectingthe detection of the substrate position determining feature of thesubstrate and a repositioning of the substrate.
 20. The method accordingto claim 15, wherein the at least one sensing device is an opticalsensing device.